Mitiarjuk Nappaaluk - Sanaaq - An Inuit Novel

They headed home.

“A pity the trout we caught were all devoured by the gulls,” said Aqiarulaaq. “Just because we went out there, to the other place.”

“But we were lucky to have gone there,” replied Arnatuinnaq. “Had we not I wouldn’t have caught any trout!”

Before going home, they again cooked outside.

“Let me have the few tea leaves that are left,” said Arnatuinnaq.

“Chew them thoroughly,” said Sanaaq. “Otherwise there won’t be enough to make the tea as dark as it should be… Our provisions of tea are all used up.”

She chewed and put them into the teapot, thus darkening the water a bit. They finished and set out for home. Arnatuinnaq carried on her back the trout she had caught. It felt heavy, being very big.

One of their folks at home, Qalingu, went to take a look from the hill. He came back and said, “The women who went fishing are appearing in the distance! One of them seems to be carrying a heavy load on her back… Looks like big iqaluit! ”

“ Ai! ” asked Taqriasuk. “Are they coming here?”

“They’re coming this way!”

When the fisherwomen were almost there, Qumaq and Akutsiaq rushed to meet them.

“Mother!” said Qumaq. “Did you catch any iqaluit? ”

“No, mine were devoured by gulls!”

Qalingu cut the iqaluk into pieces. “Let’s invite the others to come and eat!” he said.

Qumaq went to tell the others about the invitation. “I was asked to tell you to come and eat some iqaluk! ”

And everyone came together for a community feast.

The next day, Qalingu was sitting on a rock and getting ready to strip the skin off a seal with a knife. He now had ample stores of meat, having killed many seals. When he finished removing the skin, he said, “Arnatuinnaq! Come and pull!”

She began pulling the seal carcass out of its skin. He then inflated the skin, now turned inside out, by blowing into it, in order to scrape the blubber off. When the scraping was done, he took the skin to Sanaaq for her to sew a patch over the anus to cover it.

“I’ll need a small piece of sealskin with the fur removed,” said Sanaaq.

She sewed a patch over the anus and, when she had finished, Qalingu filled the bag, stuffing it with pieces of meat and blubber. Then he wiped it with vegetation and carried it to a stone cache. With a leather strap, he tied slipknots around the rear flippers, that is, around its knees, and also around a front flipper. It would be carried on each side by Arnatuinnaq, the young Maatiusi, and Sanaaq. Maatiusi cried out, “Wait a bit! You’ve got to stop a moment because my hand is being squeezed by the leather strap!”

They halted and advanced a little further, but, just as they had almost put the meat bag into place, it began to rip…

“It’s been torn by a sharp stone,” explained Qalingu. “But it’s only a little tear.”

He closed up the stone cache and erected an inuksuk over it. Once he had finished, he went home.

Night was now falling. Arnatuinnaq called out, “An uuttuq down there!”

“I’ll go ai! ” said Maatiusi. “I’ll use the seal-hunting screen… I’ve got to hurry!”

“Are you really up to it?” asked Sanaaq.

* * *

Sanaaq was scraping the inside of a sealskin. It had fur and was that of an adult seal, not a young one. As she started to remove the flesh, she said, “The skin has become really thin. It’s a seal that’s been moulting… Look, Arnatuinnaq! Its mami is all black. The fur is falling off all by itself!”

“Let me eat some of its mami! ” said Arnatuinnaq. “It’s really good mami! ”

When Sanaaq had finished, she washed the skin because it was shedding. It could not be scraped with a kiliutaq. She laid it out to dry on a rock, with the furry side on top. She then went inside, saying, “Someone should go outside and keep an eye on the skin I laid out to dry. It could lose its fur because of the heat. It’s really sunny!”

“The dogs ate a piece of our skin!” exclaimed Arnatuinnaq.

“A big piece?” asked Sanaaq.

“No, one of its rear flippers.”

“Never mind! I’ll mend it and hang it on a drying rack.”

She went about her mending. Once the operation was done, she asked, “But where are the leather straps to hang it with?”

“On the edge of the kilu, ” answered Arnatuinnaq.

After making eyelets all along the edge of the skin, she hung it on the drying rack.

Qumaq had grown up a little and was now trying for the first time to make boots by herself. She cut out what was needed to make the qalliniq and also to make the atungaq. She then began to sew. She stitched very badly, making holes in the skin and sewing asymmetrically, without really noticing how poor her work was. When she was done, her mother, Sanaaq, took a look and said, “Qumaq ai! It’s the first time you’ve made boots. We’ll offer them to your sanaji! ”

Ningiukuluk, her maternal grandmother, had also delivered her. As a qillaqut, they would offer a plate, some tobacco, a sealskin, and the boots that the little girl had just sewn.

“Your arnaliaq has made her first boots!” said Sanaaq as she brought the gifts.

“What? These things are for me?” said Ningiukuluk. “That girl, my arnaliaq, I made her skilful! And now I’m being given boots… They are truly beautiful boots!”

Ningiukuluk found the boots to be very beautiful because they were the work of her arnaliaq, even though they were not at all well made… She even tried them on as a way of honouring her arnaliaq, and because she had received them as a qillaqut gift.

Qalingu and Irsutuq were leaving in their two qajaak. They were going to gather eggs. As part of their preparations, they took a box to put the eggs in and a bag. Qalingu lashed his qajaq to his sled for the trip across the qainnguq to open water. Because he and his companion would be travelling by qajaq, they took something to sit on while paddling.

“We’ll be back tomorrow,” said Qalingu.

They set off in their two qajaak and headed to Pikiuliq Island. Because they landed while the tide was still coming in, each had to carry his qajaq to dry land. Qalingu began walking about on dry land and, as he made his way, eider ducks and gulls took off from the ground. A bird that had been laying flew from its nest as he passed by. Qalingu saw the eggs in the nest and called out, “I’ve found some eggs!”

He put the eggs he had gathered in the box he had brought and the down from the nest in his bag. He decided to leave one, out of compassion for the eider duck, which was continually flying about in close proximity, full of anxiety for its eggs. Some of the eggs contained a chick embryo, others a germ, and still others no visible germ. Irsutuq too found some eggs, but only a few. He went to his companion and said, “I really don’t have a knack for this. I’ve only gathered a few eggs!”

“It’s because you see poorly, on account of your advanced age.”

“No, I don’t see poorly!”

Some gulls swooped down from above. They feared for their eggs and their chicks. The two men stopped and began checking over the eggs they had gathered by dunking them in the water of a small lake.

“We’ll check the eggs we’ve gathered,” said Qalingu, “to see whether they’ve got any embryos… The ones with embryos float. The other twenty don’t have embryos. I’ll use them for bartering!”